A collection of investigations indicate the importance of adipose tissue stromal/stem cells to vasculogenesis and angiogenesis during adipogenesis. Early in development the stromal-vascular (S-V) elements control and dictate the extent of adipogenesis. For instance, the vasculature and connective tissue collagen matrix develops before overt adipocyte differentiation. Definitive studies of human...

Wnt signaling is as a major regulator of adipogenesis. It differentially regulates the fate of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) by promoting osteogenesis and myogenesis, and inhibiting adipogenesis[1]. Its loss of function has been associated with impaired osteogenesis[2] and diverse congenital and adult cardiovascular disorders[3,4]. Our group has identified loss of function mutations in Wnt corec...

PPARγ (Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ) is a nuclear receptor involved in lipid homeostasis and related metabolic diseases. Acting as a transcription factor, PPARγ is a master regulator for adipocyte differentiation. Here, we reveal that CHIP (C-terminus of HSC70-interacting protein) suppresses adipocyte differentiation by functioning as an E3 ligase of PPARγ. CHIP directly binds t...

Obesity is one of the most serious health problems of the 21(st) century. It is associated with highly increased risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease as well as several cancers. The expansion of the fat tissue needs the differentiation of preadipocytes to adipocytes, a process called adipogenesis. Dysfunction of adipogenesis is a hallmark of obesity and delineati...

Adipogenesis is dependent on the sequential activation of transcription factors including the CCAAT/enhancer-binding proteins (C/EBP), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma), and steroid regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP). We show that the mood stabilizing drug valproic acid (VPA; 0.5-2 mm) inhibits mouse 3T3 L1 and human preadipocyte differentiation, likely throug...

BACKGROUND Increased adiposity in humans leads to obesity, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. We previously conducted an extensive unbiased in vitro transcriptomic analysis of adipogenesis, using human adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs). Here, we have applied computational methods to these data to identify transcription factors (TFs) that con...

The recent discovery of functional brown adipocytes in adult humans illuminates the potential of these cells in the treatment of obesity and its associated diseases. In rodents, brown adipocyte-like cells are known to be recruited in white adipose tissue (WAT) by cold exposure or β-adrenergic stimulation, but the molecular machinery underlying this phenomenon is not fully understood. Here, we s...

OBJECTIVE Decreased expression of diacylglycerol kinase delta (DGKδ) has been linked to insulin resistance in humans and mice and it is abundantly expressed in adipose tissue. Therefore, its role in adipogenesis was examined. DESIGN AND METHODS 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes were generated in which DGKδ expression had been knocked down and the effect of this on adipogenesis was determined. Lipidomic a...

Acetylation is one of the most crucial post-translational modifications that affect protein function. Protein lysine acetylation is catalyzed by acetyltransferases, and acetyl-CoA functions as the source of the acetyl group. Additionally, acetyl-CoA plays critical roles in maintaining the balance between carbohydrate metabolism and fatty acid synthesis. Here, we sought to determine whether lysi...

Although growth differentiation factor-5 (GDF5) has been implicated in skeletal development and joint morphogenesis in mammals, little is known about its functionality in adipogenesis and energy homeostasis. Here, we show a critical role of GDF5 in regulating brown adipogenesis for systemic energy expenditure in mice. GDF5 expression was preferentially upregulated in brown adipose tissues from ...